| Seoji
Jaesa Memorial Hall (1634 onward)
other
sites in Andong |
Andong, Korea |
Bird's eye axonometric drawing. Click to enlarge. Drawn by Tim Ciccone, copyright 2004. |
Axonometric drawing of interior space. Click to enlarge. Drawn by Tim Ciccone, copyright 2004. |
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Seoji Jaesa is a memorial hall where members of the Uiseong Kim clan gather at least once a year to commemorate their illustrious ancestor, Kim Seong-Il. Born in 1538, Kim Seong-Il was a renowned Confucian scholar of the mid-Joseon dynasty. In later years he took the pen name Hakbong and joined Korean forces in resisting the Japanese during their invasion in 1592. The following year, Kim Seong-Il died of sickness while fighting in the field.
Hakbong was buried at Seoji village on a hillside grave that faced south. This carefully tended grave was memorialized for posterity when Kim's clan, the Uiseong Kim, built Seoji Jaesa in in the late 17th century sometime after a memorial stone was erected in 1634. The memorial hall--which looks almost the same today as it did then--was designed to hold a large groups of family members for ancestral rites conducted in the hall or at the grave. During the remaining part of the year the Jaesa housed caretakers and servants whose duty it was to maintain the grave. Even today, elders of the Uiseong Kim clan live at Seoji Jaesa and continue to hold rites in honor of Hakbong.
Bibliography:
All images copyright 2004 Tim Ciccone. Photographed March 2004
Cultural Properties Administration
Kim,
Bong-ryeol. I Ddang-e Saegyeojin Jeongsin (The Spirit Etched
on this Land).
Ju Isang
Geonchuk. Seoul. 1999
Written material edited from signposts on site.